8 Great Ways to Use Ground Beef or Turkey

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. We participate in other affiliate programs as well. For more details, please see our disclosure policy.

Food shouldn't be complicated. Or bad for you. Or expensive. I'm working to craft good cheap eats that we can both enjoy. You can read more about this site here. Check out my cookbooks if you're needing some budget-friendly inspiration. Read about how to make healthy eating work for you here.

Ground beef or turkey are often the most economical meats. Good thing! They can make so many versatile and freezer-friendly meals. If you need some inspiration on how to use ground meats, check out these recipes.

I remember when I could get a ti-tip for $1.99/pound untrimmed. Today, I’m lucky if I can find it under 8 bucks! Times are a changing and with them go the meat prices.

In the six years since our family moved back to California, I’ve seen meat prices jump dramatically — a few times. The amount that our family eats has changed, as a result. Admittedly, part of that is because I won’t buy the cheapest of the cheap any longer. I’ve upped the quality of our meat — as well as the quantity, I suppose. Since my six kids are now six years older, they consume a lot more.

One of my go-to proteins these days is the ground turkey I buy at Trader Joe’s. It’s typically about $2.99 per pound, a dollar more if I buy the hormone- and antibiotic-free. I love it because it has great flavor and texture and I can stretch it into any number of recipes.

(I don’t buy ground beef as often, simply because it’s several dollars more per pound than turkey.)

That’s one of the beauties of ground beef or turkey. Not only does it use up scraps and trimmings on the butcher’s end, but it also can go farther since the meat is already ground for you.

You can avoid the high-cost and dubious ingredients of breakfast sausage by making your own with ground turkey. These homemade Spicy Turkey Patties with Garlic and Basil mix up together quickly and bake in the oven. They can also be frozen (cooked or uncooked) to be enjoyed later.

This Spicy Turkey Egg Bake was an experiment with turkey. My kids are seemingly hungry all the time, so I wanted to provide a breakfast that stuck to the ribs and gave them staying power. This was it: an egg casserole stuffed with meat, chiles, and pepper jack cheese. It’s also freezer-friendly and really works well for any meal of the day.

Although these burgers were created originally with turkey, you could certainly substitute ground beef. The spices mixed into the meat and the cheese and chipotle mayo make this Tarragon Turkey Burger special. You can also freeze the patties ahead of time to make dinner come together that much more quickly.

Stir up a pot of this quick meat sauce that is perfect on spaghetti or other pasta. Quick to prepare and freezer-friendly, it’s a great addition to your meal rotation. Use whatever ground meat you have on hand — ground turkey, beef, or chicken will all work.

Adding black beans to your taco filling can help stretch your meal and make it a bit more economical. This Turkey and Black Bean Taco recipe makes delicious tacos. You can also use mix up this Taco Seasoning Mix with some cooked ground meat and stash it in the freezer for an easy taco night.

The variations of chili are endless. This Easy Slow Cooker Chili really is easy. Cook up meat and onions, open some cans, dump some spices, and put it all in the slow cooker and walk away. If you don’t plan ahead, this Jalapeno Chili can be ready in just 30 minutes.

There is an actual index for the cost of certain goods – ground beef is tracked. It has risen in price by 90% over the last 5 years. That is a shocking statistic.
We did purchase the Zaycon ground beef in July and it is super lean. I packaged it into 1lb packs for the freezer. I sometimes mix it with ground pork for meatloaf and meatballs.
I have recently started buying ground turkey – so far I have gotten the Nature’s Place brand at Food Lion and the Jennie-O. Both were marked down packages at my store. We have two stores in our area that mark down meat – lots of competition out there for the good stuff.
Basically our menus don’t include beef anymore other than the Zaycon – we have been eating more chicken and pork.

Thanks for all you do, I am excited to give your newest cookbook as a Christmas gift this year!
Melissa

Yup, even ground beef has gotten so high that I rarely buy it anymore. I eat less beef at home, and more when I’m dining out and the cost of a beef meal is comparable to the chicken or seafood meal. That said, this past weekend I splurged and got a pound of ground beef ($4.99) to add into the spaghetti sauce I was doctoring up with extra veggies and spices. It was the only item on my receipt that was full price. I figured my wife needed an indulgence (and some extra protein) because she’s been working so hard during our move – 2 jobs, college courses, and hauling truckloads of furniture in the evenings and on “days off” makes for a hectic schedule.

A few of our favorite ground beef/turkey dishes are Asian inspired. One is what we affectionately call Asian Curry Noodles, based on a recipe from Nina Simonds’ Asian Noodles cookbook. It’s hearty comfort food w/noodles, ground meat, madras curry, onion, peas, water chestnuts, and a soy-based sauce. It is SO GOOD and uses all freezer/pantry ingredients so is also a great go-to. The other is a Thai inspired ground turkey (I kind of make it up as I go, based on some magazine recipe, but generally fish sauce, chili peppers, cilantro, basil, etc) to eat over rice or in lettuce wraps. Also, SO GOOD. We also use ground turkey or beef in chili, tacos/anything Mexican, soup, pasta sauce. Like most people. 🙂

When I get ground beef it’s usually because the store is having a sale on one of the big 4 pound packages. So I take a pound each to make spaghetti sauce, chili, taco meat, and sloppy joes. I usually add beans to the chili and taco meat so that they stretch even further. As a single person, I can get a lot of dinners out of one afternoon of cooking.

We still buy a lot of ground beef. My husband is diabetic and does better with his blood sugar levels if he has meat with his meals. However, with the rising price we have been substituting ground pork in many recipes. This works really well in chili, casseroles, and meat sauce.

Recent Comments

Popular Series

Disclaimer/Disclosure

Please note that the advertisements posted here do not necessarily represent Jessica Fisher's views and opinions.

Also be advised that some of these advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site (when you click through). You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices.

To better serve my readers, I have implemented Google Analytics cookies in order to better know visitor demographics. For opt outs, go here.